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My First Same-Sex Wedding. (Not Really)

I LOVE weddings. And one of the best weddings I’ve ever attended took place last week in Brooklyn. The whole evening was a perfect blend of elegance and casualness. Rose petals strewn about a wooden deck and a Julliard-trained musician bowing her violin as 100 well-dressed guests sat underneath the setting sun, sipping wine and cocktails while the couple exchanged vows. This was a fun, intimate affair punctuated by the couple’s unmistakable bond. I was happy and proud to be a part of something this special.

Oh, and one more detail about the wedding: there was no bride.

This was one of the most awesome and moving celebrations of love I’ve ever witnessed, and it just happened to be the wedding of two men, one of which is a dear friend.

I had never been to a same-sex wedding, so I’m not sure exactly what I expected. Though, I was guilty of adolescent curiosity: Who walks down the aisle last? Will somebody escort a groom down the aisle? What will they wear? Will a Christian pastor officiate the wedding? The answer to each of those questions turned out to be a resounding, “who gives a damn?!”

I’ve been covering the same-sex marriage debate closely for 10 years. I was in San Francisco in 2004 as an anchor at the local NBC station when then-mayor Gavin Newsom set off a national firestorm by ordering marriage licenses issued to gay couples. That was months before Massachusetts became the first state where legal same-sex marriages took place. I was also on the story when the California legislature became the first in the nation to approve same-sex marriage in 2005. The very first legal same-sex marriage in New York happened live during my newscast in 2011. I was also in the anchor chair last year when the Supreme Court issued decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Prop 8. I’ve done countless interviews over the years with gay couples and activists as well as opponents of same-sex marriage.

So, last week’s wedding was a rare instance for me in which same-sex marriage wasn’t an issue to be covered, discussed, or debated. In fact, it wasn’t an “issue” at all, and not just because I was surrounded by a likeminded group of folks who obviously supported what was happening. Rather, there was no discernable difference that day between their marriage and any other, unless you fixate on the sex of the participants.

That was a central point before the Supreme Court in last year’s landmark Prop 8 case. As attorney Charles J. Cooper noted in his argument for the defendants: “That’s what this question really boils down here, whether or not it can be said that for every legitimate purpose of marriage, are opposite sex couples and same-sex couples indistinguishable … indistinguishable.”

“Legitimate purposes” aren’t what they used to be. As noted marriage researcher Dr. Andrew Cherlin points out, marriage has gone through three distinct phases in American history: 1) From the country’s founding until the mid-1800s, it was a true institution that served practical needs and was strictly ruled by social and religious norms. 2) Marriage entered a companionate phase that lasted until the 1960s when men and women played gender roles in the relationship. (homemaker/breadwinner) During this era, there was a greater emphasis on intimacy. And finally, 3) we entered an individualistic era of marriage which is where we still are today. We look to it for own self-fulfillment and growth. It’s not necessary step for those wanting children. Cohabitation is now a legitimate alternative. Marriage today is a take-it-or-leave-it, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately proposition.

When same-sex marriage opponents refer to traditional marriage, they generally mean marriage between a man and a woman. But Dr. Cherlin lays out a case that marriage tradition encompasses more than just the sex of the participants. And in that case, traditional marriage disappeared long before same-sex marriage ever became an issue.

I respect people on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate. I don’t question anyone’s sincere religious objections. And I commend those fighting for what they see is the civil rights issue of the day. Good people can disagree, though they’re often drowned out by the harsh and hurtful rhetoric of a few.

I don’t suggest that attending a same-sex wedding will change anyone’s mind. But it offered me more perspective and an unfiltered lens of love through which to view same-sex marriage instead of the usual potent mix of politics, morality, law and religion.

After all these years, I was finally able to attend a same-sex wedding, and it was the one place where same-sex marriage was the last thing on my mind.

Comments

This is a great article…well thought out and well written. Appreciate the sentiment in it; – at age 72, I am totally in favor of marriage equality. And every other type of equality…ethnic, gender, and so on. The fact is that we are all basically just human beings.

TJ, you do a great job on MSNBC weekends, and I would not be surprised to see you anchoring your own show in the days ahead!

I tduly love ypur website.. Great colors & theme.
Did you deveop this web site yourself? Please reply bafk as I’m trying to create my own peesonal site and want to know
where you got this from or what thee heme is called.
Appreciate it!

It sounds great, but does anyone care anymore about what God says and wants. What happen to making him happy? It’s not about what we think to be right, but what God says is right in our lives because he created us for his purpose and it’s about his will for our lives. He loves us all, but he doesn’t love our sinful nature and the things we do so that’s why Jesus came into this world to deliver us from all sins, not some sins, but all sins.